Sept. 1, 1894.] Supplement to the " Tropical Agriculturist." 
213 
9. Are there certain habits or incapacities of 
movement at certain stages of their development 
or at certain times of the year, day or night, 
which can be turned to use in checking tho 
plague ? 
10. Do the insects congregate in large numbers 
at certain places, on trees or plants, and at certain 
times of the year, day or night, for various reasons 
and purposes us on account of the cold, in order 
to escape daylight, for pairing or feeding purposes, 
or when migrating in search of food from their 
breeding places ? 
ZOOLOGICAL NOTES FOR AGRICULTURAL 
STUDENTS. 
The order Ungulata — the most important per- 
haps to agricultural students — is divided, as has 
already been mentioned, into the two primary 
sections — Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla. 
To the perissodactyla belong the odd-toed 
ungulatas, in which the toes are odd in number — 
either one or three ; if horns are present, they 
are not in pairs ; the stomach is simple and not 
divided into compartments. The living members 
which represent tue perissodactyla are the rhino- 
ceros, the tapirs, and the horse and its allies. 
The horse, ass, and zebra go to comprise the 
family Equidse. In living forms the toes are* re- 
duced to oue in each foot, enclosed in a single 
broad hoof, without any supplementary hoofs. 
The functional toe in these animals is the 3rd, 
and the 2nd and 4th digits are represented by 
the so-called " splint-bones " hidden beneath the 
skin. There is a discontinuous series of teeth in 
each jaw ; and in males, cannies are present, but 
these are wanting in the females. 
The genus Equus (to which the horse alone be- 
longs) is distinguished by the fact that the animal 
is not banded, and has no dorsal line ; both fore and 
hind legs have warts, and the tail is hniry 
throughout The geuus appears to contain no 
more than the well-marked species, as far as liv- 
ing forms are concerned, namely equus caballus. 
From this single species appear to have descended 
all the innumerable varieties of horses which are 
employed by man. The native country of the 
horse appears to have been Central Asia, but all 
the known wild individuals of the present day 
appear to be descendants of domestic breeds. 
The ass ( A sinus vulgaris) is characterised by 
the fact that there is always a distinct dorsal 
line, and the body is more or less banded ; the 
fore-legs alone have warts, and the tail has a 
tuft of long hair at its extremity. The ass is 
probably a native of Northern Africa, or of South- 
Western Asia. The ass was undoubtedly domes- 
ticated in Egypt at the very earliest periods of its 
history, long before the introduction of the horse 
The striped and banded asses are known as zebras 
and quuggas, and are distributed over a great 
part of Africa. In many Eastern countries, — 
Egypt, Palestine and even in India, — the ass is 
a most important beast of burden. As regards 
the horse little need be said, as its usefulness not 
only in agriculture but in many other ways, 
makes it generally perhaps the most useful of 
all animals. 
The artioductylaj or even-toed ungulatas are 
possessed of either two or four toes, the functional 
toes boing the 3rd and 4th which form a 
symmetrical pair on each foot ; two other toes, 
which hardly touch the ground, are also piesent. 
When true horns are present they are always in 
pair3, and supported by bony horn cores. The 
antlers of the deer are also paired, but they are 
not to be regarded as true horns. The stomach 
is always more or less complex, or is divided into 
separate compartments. The section a? /. Hloctyla 
comprise the hippopotamus, the pi«-, and the 
whole group of the ruminants, including oxen, 
sheep, goats, antelopes, camels, llamas, giraffes, 
deer, &c. 
Pigs and hogs are included in the family Suida. 
Of true swine the best known is the wild boar 
(Nws scorfa) from which it is probable that most 
of our domestic varieties of swine has sprung. 
The wild boar, which is characterised by the size 
and sharpness of his cannies, as is also its con- 
gener the Indian hog (Sus ind'cus) is often hunted. 
The breeding of pigs is often associated with 
agriculture pure and simple, and very commonly 
in connection with dairy farming. 
Oxen, sheep, goats, antelopes, deer, giraffes 
and camels go to form the family of Ruviinan- 
tia or ruminant ungulatas. They are charac- 
terised by the cloven foot (with, generally, two 
small supplanting toes at the back) and they all 
ruminate or " chew the cud'" — that is to say, they 
first swallow their food in an unmasticated or 
partially masticated condition, and then bring it 
up again, after a longer or shorter time, in order 
to chew it thoroughly. 
This process of rumination is so characteristic 
of thisgioup, that it will be necessary to describe 
the Structure of the stomach, as showing the 
mechanism by which this singular process is 
effected. The stomach is divided into four (rarely 
three) compartments, which are usually so dis- 
tinct from one another, that they have generally 
been spoken of as so many separate stomachs. 
The gullet opens at a point situated between the 
first and second of these cavities or " stomachs." 
Of the-^e the largest lies on the left side, and is 
called the " rumen" or " paunch." This is a cavity 
of very large capacity, having its interior fur- 
nished with numerous hard papillfeof warts. It is 
the chamber in o which the fooa is first received 
when it is swallowed, and here it is moistened 
and allowed to soak for some time. The 
second stomach, placed to the right of the paunch, 
is much smaller, and is known as the "reticu- 
lum" or honeycomb-bag. Its inner surface is 
reticulated, or is divided by ridges into a num- 
ber of hexagonal or many-sided cells, somewhat 
resembling the cells of a honeycomb. The reti- 
culum is small and globular, and it receives the 
food after it has lain a sufficient time in the 
paunch. The function of the reticulum, as usually 
believed, is to compress the partially masticated 
food into little balls or pellets, which are then 
returned to the mouth by a reversed action of the 
muscles of the oesophagus ; but this is now dis- 
credited. After having been thoroughly chewed 
and prepared for digestion, the food is swallowed 
for the second time. On this occasion, howaver, 
the triturated food passes on into the third cavity, 
which is variously known as the " psalteiium, 
" omasum," (Scottic6) the " manyplies." The 
vernacular and the first of these technical names 
both refer to the fact that the inner lining of this 
cavity is thrown into a number of longitudinal 
